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The International Intellectual Property Alliance, the copyright lobby group that includes the MPAA and RIAA among others, is petitioning the US Trade Representative to put Indonesia, Brazil and India on the "301 Special" list. This list defines the countries that are havens for piracy and that should be subject to retaliation for failing to defend copyrights.

The reason they should be put on the list? Their governments encourage (but do not mandate) their administrations to use open source software. Obviously, this reduces the revenue of cost software vendors and publishers, but it is a real stretch to call this piracy. The governments are simply making business decisions, weighing costs and benefits. And given the quality of open source software and operating systems, that decision is rather easy.

Instead of finding new definition for piracy, the IIPA should make sure its members are offering good products at competitive prices, the basic requirement for a firm to survive in a free market. Or is the IIPA also against capitalism?

Comments

For god's sake! This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! REALLY! FOSS DAMAGES piracy by converting people who would otherwise pirated software to FOSS!
These people just RUINED MY DAY! (And an enraged unhuman scream is heard all the way to Chile.)

It's unfortunate that there exists a subset of people/organizations who believe that everything must be monetized. "Free" as in Linux and Wikipedia is an anathema to them.

This attitude seems irrational. "Free" products such as software, conceptually leads to greater profits since you don't have to pay to use the software. Isn't the free-market about competition delivering the best products at the lowest price? In the free-market, "Free" should also be considered a viable business model and shouldn't be arbitrarily dismissed by people who claim to be free market advocates.

The governments have not even mandated, they just encouraged. I would, for one, love my government if it were doing the same. Those licenses cost a lot for a lot of trouble (I am specifically thinking about Microsoft here).

So I'm a pirate because I use open source? WOO HOO always wanted to be a pirate :D
As for Mr. Anonymous saying "but using open source software also means you're not buying from a proprietary software vendor. So by lost sales logic you have just stolen money from them by using OSS." So does this mean I'm a pirate if I choose to accept a load of free clothes from my friend when they clear out their closet instead shopping at American Eagle because I've cost them lost sales for not wanting to spend a crap load on clothes?
Open Source is not piracy you knobs. It's OPEN SOURCE, there for any who wishes to use it. They aren't forcing you to take it. You can go out and buy Photoshop if you wish as well. No one should force you to do that either.
Maybe if those companies like Microsoft didn't make their stuff so outrageously overpriced but reasonable in cost, they wouldn't have to deal so much with real pirates ripping their products. FREE is not a four letter dirty word people.

Honestly, this is one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard. who ARE these people making these rules, and who do they represent? I think it's safe to say that these "people" are so out of touch with the real world that it's almost funny. This isn't the late 90's anymore, where corporations carefully guarded their software (or tried, at least) and refused to release any of it without compensation.

No, in fact, probably 90% of software companies embrace some form of Open Source Software (yes, even Microsoft!) because they understand the benefits of open source software (especially in the arena of developing languages--they won't be used if they're not open sourced!). The economics of open source have been proved over and over again, so the fact that there are supposed "experts" who believe otherwise borders on impossible.

It seems to me that this group represents a collection of terrified IP conspirators living in the past. This decree should be completely disregarded by any countries on its "301 Special List," as it clearly illustrates the opinions of delusional lobbyists living in a fantasy world.

Also, as an addendum. I suspect that the countries 'encouraging' open source software are doing just that, encouraging--not forcing. Forcing a group to use any form of software--open source, proprietary, or freeware--undermines the point of open source software all together (See Open Source Definition, #9 at http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd!). I would be very disappointed if this was the case.

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It looks like you're doing what I did and adding the web part to the main blog page. Instead, view one of the posts on your blog page, and replace the New Comment web part on that page with the anonymous web part.
Hope this helps.